1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a door positioner for holding open a side door of a vehicle body, in particular during a surface treatment of the vehicle body.
2. Description of Related Art
In the production of vehicles, a body shell is first produced from individual parts. This is then treated in a surface treatment plant in different ways, e.g. by applying paints and other coatings. Generally the body shell is immersed in this process in immersion baths and rotated and/or moved in a translatory manner therein.
During the immersion process the side doors of the body shell should be slightly opened, so that all parts of the side doors and the door surrounds can be treated uniformly. An open position of the side doors is also favorable so that paints and other liquids can drain from the body shell more easily.
If a body shell with opened side doors is moved in an immersion bath, the dynamic pressures caused by the movement could lead to the side doors closing again or opening too far. To prevent this, door positioners are used, which hold the slightly opened side doors in a defined open position in the immersion baths and frequently also during processing in other processing stations.
Known door positioners basically comprise an L-shaped angle with a short limb and a long limb. The free end of the short limb bears a fastening piece, via which the door positioner can be screwed or otherwise fastened detachably to the inside of the side door. At the other end the short limb is connected via a leaf spring to the long limb, which in the fitted state extends into the interior of the body shell.
Arranged laterally on the long limb is a retaining notch, which in the open position of the side door engages in a rebate of the vertical door spar. Arranged at the free end of the long limb is an actuating part, with which the long limb can be swung out against the resistance of the leaf spring in a horizontal plane a few degrees from its resting position. Due to horizontal swinging of the long limb the retaining notch can be brought into engagement with the rebate of the door spar, in order to fix the side door in the open position. By renewed actuation of the actuating part this fixing can be released again, so that the side door can be closed or completely opened.
On the known door positioner the actuating part is situated relatively far in the interior of the body shell. If a robot is to be used for opening and closing the side door, this must reach with one robot arm relatively far into the interior of the body shell to be able to operate the actuating part. This is disadvantageous insofar as paint traces and other particles, which have settled on the robot arm, can detach themselves from this and fall down onto the door sill when the robot arm reaches into the body shell. Since the door sill is not generally clad on motor vehicles, such contaminations can result in expensive extra work on the body shell to guarantee an aesthetically perfect appearance.